Argylle: Some Fun If A Little Uneven

Matthew Vaughn can be trusted to usually deliver an enjoyable theatrical experience when he makes a movie. The quality of his films may vary, but at the end of the day, they are always technically well-made and fun enough to warrant at least one watch. Argylle continues this trend by delivering a movie that feels uniquely Vaughn and has enough interesting moments and plot twists to keep the viewer engaged, even if the plot does not always line up properly.

Argylle follows Ellie Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard), a writer of espionage books who ends up in the middle of an international conspiracy as her books end up matching real events. Convinced that she can figure out what comes next in the search for some valuable files, dueling spy organizations (one led by Samuel L. Jackson, one led by Bryan Cranston) seek her out to finish her final book so they can find where the files are.

One may read that synopsis and assume that the plot is borderline nonsensical, and that would not necessarily be inaccurate. A lot of the things that happen in the movie revolve around plot convenience and things that happen before the big reveal feel like they stretch the limits of logic. That said, at least Sam Rockwell’s performance is magnetic enough and the action is kinetic enough to keep the viewer interested, even as things don’t make a ton of sense for the vast majority of the plot. Still, if one just turns their brain off (especially at the mid-credit scene) they will find enough entertainment in the film.

The biggest issue with the movie is that when the visuals are reliant on CGI, it looks awful and is immediately immersion-breaking. Had this been something that was exclusive to the sequences set within Ellie’s book, it would have been a little bit more forgivable, however, once it intrudes into other sequences it just becomes painfully obvious that this movie was designed to be watched on AppleTV+ at home on a tv that is likely not designed with Dolby picture quality in mind. There is also the issue where Vaughn’s action sequences (see any of the three Kingsman movies) work best when the movie is rated R so downgrading to PG-13 makes some of the third act action scenes feel like they are shot weirdly so they aren’t focusing on too much blood and gore. This was a similar issue with the original cut of Rebel Moon Part 1 on Netflix.

That said, there is enough to have fun with in the movie where, if someone is just looking for something entertaining to watch in a theater this weekend, this would not be a waste of their time. There have been worse movies in the last six months and at least this one makes an attempt to entertain during its entire runtime, even if sometimes the moment-to-moment plot details don’t work well if one thinks about them too hard.

Final Rating: 7/10